News Karnataka
Friday, March 29 2024
Cricket
Mysuru

Poverty no hurdle for runner Reena from rocking in national athletic meets

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Mysuru: Reena George, daughter of a mason and promising athlete from Mysuru had decided to shift to 100 mtr and 200 mtr running from her 400 mtr forte two years ago due to frequent knee injuries. However, she has hit the bull’s eye here as well by winning many medals in both the events. Due to her outstanding performance, she has also represented the country five times.

A 25-year-old, Reena George, hailing from a economically poor family background, has come so far and wants to do well in future by winning medals for the country. Though she is consistently doing well in state and national level events, she is yet to get the sponsors. To increase her speed, she needs to strengthening for which she needs to spend quite a lot on healthy diet. But unfortunately, due to a poor financial background, she is finding it difficult to afford a healthy diet. She is eagerly looking for a sponsor so that she can afford nutritious diets and improve her performance. Her next goal is to do well in the Asian Athletic Championship which will be held at Indonesia in April 2019. In the recently concluded state level Dasara Games Chief Minister Cup, she won the individual championship award by winning gold medals in 100 mtr and 200 mtr event.

Speaking to Newskarnataka, Reena said, “Since I changed my events to 100 mtr and 200 mtr from my regular 400 mtr event, I am really doing well. For the last three years, I am consistently winning medals at national and state level competitions and looking forward to performing well in the international competitions. In 2016, in a national level competition, I managed to win two medals, gold in 100 mtr event and silver in 200 mtr event. Later in 2017, due to good performance in state and national meets, I had an opportunity to represent the country in the Asian Athletic Championship held at Orissa where we managed to win bronze medal in the 4 x 100 mtr relay while this year in the national athletic meet, I have won two bronze medals in the 100 mtr event and two gold medals in 4 x 100 mtr relay and 200 mtr respectively.”

“Everyday, on an average, I practise for nearly six hours-three hours in the morning and nearly two and half hours in the evening. My immediate target this year is to do well in the national meet which will be held at Goa from March 31 to April 14 and Asian Athletic Championship which will be held at Indonesia in April next year. Even though I have represented the country five times, I am yet to get a sponsor and looking forward for one to prepare well for the forthcoming event.” Her best timing so far in 100 mtr event is 11.72 sec while in 200 mtr it is 23.88 sec. She is a proud daughter of Vargheese George and Catherine.

She also mentioned that it was her uncle Lazar who noticed her running talent and enrolled her in Kanteerava stadium for practice under the watchful eyes of Anand Shetty. From then on, she got trained by coaches Uday Prabhu, Babu Shetty, Manjunath, Damodhar Gowda and during India camp, B G Vijay. In Mysuru, at Chamundi Vihar Stadium, she takes guidance from SAK coach Vasanth.

Last year, Indian team coach B G Vijay had said, “She is a very good athlete. Recently in the open nationals, she won two medals including a gold medal in the 200 mtr event. I am confident she will easily make it to the Indian team, especially the relay. She needs to improve her strength which consequently will accelerate her speed. If she has any problem, she calls me and I guide her. She is young and there is a lot of scope to improve.”

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